The present invention relates to pudding compositions, and particularly to sugar-free pudding compositions and hydratable dry mixes for preparation thereof.
In traditional cooked-starch puddings, a mixture of starch, sugar, liquid medium and various flavoring ingredients is heated at boiling temperature for a time sufficient for the starch granules to undergo progressively increasing stages of water absorption, swelling and loss of birefringence, along with leaching out of soluble portions of the starch. The aqueous mixture increases greatly in viscosity and, upon cooling, sets to a gelatinous structure having an organoleptically-acceptable firm yet smooth, creamy texture.
To accommodate consumer demand for convenience products, food processors developed compositions which are now commonly referred to as instant puddings. In these products, a packaged sugar and starch containing dry mix is provided which can be hydrated by the consumer with water or milk without need for cooking, and then refrigerated to produce a set or gelled pudding. In order to provide the viscous and smooth texture found in the counterpart traditional cooked-starch puddings, these instant pudding mixes generally contain starch in pregelatinized form, i.e., a form which provides thickening upon hydration without need for cooking. To provide the gelled or set texture achieved in the traditional cooked product, the art has generally relied upon phosphate gelling agents which act by coagulating milk proteins (provided in the mix or through use of milk as the hydrating medium). See, for example, U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,607,692 to Kennedy, et al.; 2,801,924 to Clausi; 2,829,978 to Castagna, et al.; and 2,927,861 to Charie, et al. More recently, certain starches having gelling properties have been employed to form instant puddings or pie fillings without need for an independent gelation system. See, e.g., U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,518,622 to Wilson, et al. and 4,465,702 to Eastmen, et al.
In the years since original development of instant pudding mixes, considerable formula optimization and refinement has been undertaken such that the pudding products made therefrom now are considered by consumers to provide textural and eating characteristics which are a quite good approximation of the characteristics of traditional cooked-starch puddings.
A more recent trend in consumer preference is for products which are of low caloric content, and in particular sugar (saccharide)-free products. The art is well aware of a variety of non-sugar sweeteners which can be substituted for sugar to provide equivalent or near-equivalent sweetening characteristics in various products, such as the dipeptide sweeteners (e.g., aspartame), saccharin, cyclamate, Acesulfame-K and the like. However, due to the extreme sweetness potency of these sugar substitutes, ranging anywhere from 100 to 300 or more times as sweet as sugar (sucrose), simple replacement of sugar in product formulations with a sweetness equivalent amount of these substitutes often involves elimination of a considerable portion of the sugar-sweetened product.
For instant pudding mixes, replacement of sugar with a sweetness equivalent amount of a high intensity sweetener such as those noted above will involve elimination of from about 35 to 75% by weight of the dry mix. Not only does this result in considerable loss of solids per se from the hydrated pudding product, but, as described in further detail hereinafter, has significant effects on the processability of the dry mix and the functional characteristics of the pudding. The art almost casually assumes that it is sufficient to just include in the mix a suitable non-sugar "bulking agent" to make up for solids and bulk lost by sugar elimination. However, the adverse effect of sugar elimination on mix and final product characteristics, particularly in products such as instant pudding compositions which are required to simulate particular textural and eating characteristics associated with traditional products, has been found to require additional and more particular modifications.
Yet another difficulty involved with providing a sugar-free counterpart of an instant pudding product is that it generally is desirable that low-fat and/or skim milk be employable as the hydrating medium for the dry mix so as to provide the consumer with a final product which not only is sugar-free but which also is of the lowest possible caloric value. The elimination from the final pudding product of the fat provided by the conventional whole milk hydrating medium has significant adverse effect on the desired setting and textural characteristics of the pudding.